A New View
by allANN
Summary: When 15 year-old Ashton's parents die, they request in their will that custody of her be given to their best friend Mark Sloan. Ashton is thrown into the whirlwind of the hospital, and discovers a lot about herself with help from all of our favourite surgeons.
1. Chapter 1

It was a Friday afternoon at the hospital, and Callie was studying a chart at the nurses station, when her best friend, and pseudo-brother walked up.

"Callie, this is Ashton, my niece. She lives with me now," Mark said, pushing his niece forward a bit.

"Right," Callie said laughing, "you're caring for a child now."

"My parents died eight months ago, so, yeah, I live with Mark now," the girl, Ashton, stuck out her hand to Callie.

Callie immediately stopped laughing. "Oh, I..uh, I'm sorry for your loss," she said returning the handshake, "and nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," the girl said, pursing her lips into a clearly, fake smile.

"So, I have to go help Callie on a case. You can do whatever, eat, sleep, chill. If you need me, ask a doctor. The nurses might..they..uh, might not be happy to help me out, by helping you out. Just stick to asking doctors, okay?" Mark finished awkwardly.

"Okay, see you later," Ashton responded.

* * *

"You have a teenager living with you?! You could have told me instead of letting me make fun a kid who just lost her parents!" Callie hissed at Mark, as they walked to her consult.

"Sorry, must've slipped my mind."

Callie stopped, "It slipped his mind, just slipped right out. Yeah, this is why you shouldn't be raising a child!" Callie jogged a few steps to catch up to her friend, "So, how long has she been living with you?"

"Well, her parents died eight months ago, as you so gracefully discovered, and she's been living with me for 2 weeks, the custody agreement took forever. Her dad was one of my best friends in high school and after, so she's not actually my niece, but I was who he requested be in charge if anything happened. I mean it was me or foster care."

"So pretty much two of the same options," Callie muttered under her breath.

"Hey, play nice, tiger. She goes to school about two blocks away, so she'll be coming here everyday after school. Yes," Mark said when Callie opened her mouth, ready to speak, "I've cleared it with the chief. He said as long as she doesn't get in anybody's way, she can stay."

Callie nodded, "So your best friend, huh? Are you okay?"

"One of my best friends, and, yeah, I'm over it," Mark said nonchalantly. Callie could tell he was lying, but she could also tell he didn't want to talk about it, so she didn't push him.

"How's she doing?" Callie inquired instead.

"She's good. She's strong, doesn't show very much emotion. I don't know, if that's good or bad though...," Mark trailed off.

Callie shrugged, "I couldn't tell you, but I guess if she doesn't hate you that's a good start, right?"

"Yeah."

* * *

Ashton finished her homework within three hours, and decided to look around. She had found the cafeteria and the on-call rooms in the hospital, when she stumbled upon Callie, in a patient's room. The raven-haired women didn't notice her and continued on with her patient. Ashton stood transfixed, as she watched Callie calmly pop a man's dislocated shoulder back into place.

When Callie turned to leave the room, she saw Ashton watching her, amazed. She was about to invite the girl to come on her rounds with her, but when the girl realized Callie was looking at her, she turned and quickly walked away.

An hour later, Callie was looking at charts at the nurses station, when she saw Ashton on a computer in the research lab. She quietly walked up behind the girl, and realized she was researching dislocated shoulders.

"You know, you could've just asked me about them," Callie said.

Ashton jumped a bit, "What..uh, I..umm, could've asked you about..about what?" She had quickly minimized the window she had open.

"About shoulders, why didn't you just ask?," Callie questioned, giving the girl a look that said she had seen the website Ashton had been looking at.

"I, I..umm..I don't know. I don't really know you. Like at all," Ashton responded rudely, trying to seem aloof, despite her legitimate curiousity.

Callie saw right through the young girls tactic. "Are you done with your homework?" When Ashton nodded, she continued, "Come do rounds with me." The girl hesitated, "Come on, it'll be fun," Callie assured her. Finally, Ashton stood up, and slowly followed behind Callie as she completed her rounds.

* * *

For the next few days, Ashton came to the hospital after school, and followed Callie on her rounds. It became routine, but the girl never spoke. She just observed from the back, observed from the gallery, and observed the X-rays.

Callie was having lunch with Mark, when she decided to ask about it. "She doesn't talk."

"What? Who?" Mark said, clearly confused.

"Ashton. She's been doing rounds with me for about a week now, and she's spoken like fifteen words to me in total. And like eight of them were ums," Callie responded.

"She doesn't open up easily. It took me about three years of comig by once a week before she started actually talking to me," Mark stopped for a second, thoughtful. "And that was when she was fourteen. Now she's two years older, and she just lost her parents."

"Huh," Callie frowned. "But people always talk to me."

"Not this one. She's a tough nut to crack. But she likes you, she keeps coming home and asking me complicated ortho questions. I keep telling her to ask you, but she just kind of shrugs and shuts up."

Callie sighed, "So I guess I'll just keep working on her."


	2. Chapter 2

It took two weeks of Ashton shadowing her before the girl finally spoke.

"Why did you decide to specialize in ortho?" Ashton asked suddenly, when they stopped at the nurses station.

After a second of thought, Callie replied, "Because ortho's like a puzzle. A puzzle that can be solved most of the time." She waited for Ashton to say more, but the girl was quiet again.

* * *

After Ashton laid down in an on-call room later that night, Callie ran to find Mark. "She talked to me. She asked me a question, and I answered."

Mark grinned at his friends genuine excitement, "Good. She needs a girl to talk to." Mark hesitated, then spoke again, "Right? It's good for her, right? To have you, I mean? Cause she's confided in me for the last couple years, but a girl would be good, right?"

"Yes, Mark. A girl would be good. Relax, I like her, a lot. I care about her. I'll treat her like family. Don't worry," Callie smiled, recognizing Mark's moment of doubt, similar to an older brother's overprotectiveness.

"Thanks."

* * *

Callie walked out of her emergency surgery at 11:30. Her patient had had a false scare, but she quickly fixed him up and he re-stabilized. She was untying her scrub cap when she bumped into someone.

"Oof, sorry," she said, looking up.

She had bumped into Ashton, coming out of the on-call room. "Sorry" the girl replied.

"Did you just wake up?" Callie asked.

Ashton nodded.

"Do you want to finish evening rounds with me?"

"Umm..I think I'm just going to wander around if that's okay?"

"Uh..yeah, of course. Just check in with me or Mark in a bit?"

Ashton nodded again.

"Alright, see you later," Callie said, walking away.

* * *

Ashton had been wandering for a while, when she stumbled upon the pedes wing. She walked through the hallways, looking at the kids and their parents, asleep, with the worry gone from their faces for once. Then she stopped. There was a girl in her room with no parents. The girl couldn't have been more than seven, and she was sniffling quietly, staring at the wall. But definitely not sleeping.

Ashton stood outside her room for a couple minutes deciding what to do. She knew it was probably against hospital protocol to visit the child because visiting hours were over, and because she wasn't related to the girl. She didn't even know the girl.

"Screw it," Ashton muttered to herself, looking around for anyone who may stop her. She walked into the bedroom, and quietly sat on the chair across from the kids bed. "Hey, you okay?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, fine," the girl replied not looking up. "Who're you?"

"My uncle, who I live with, works here, so I'm stuck here till he goes home," Ashton explained to the girl.

"Oh."

"Are you okay?" Ashton asked again. "Where are your mommy and daddy?"

"They had to take care of my brothers and sisters at home. They couldn't stay. It's okay, I just miss them a little," the girl replied, sniffing in between sentences.

Ashton nodded in understanding, "Whats your name?"

"Eve. What's yours?"

"My name's Ashton. Eve..that's a pretty name. Can I sit with you, Eve?"

Eve nodded, then resumed sniffling and staring at the wall. So Ashton did one of the only two things that make her feel better when she's sad. She started to sing quietly. Her voice wavered at first because she never sang in front of other people, but eventually it became a quiet, steady rhythm.

When the song ended she stopped singing. Eve beckoned to her, and whispered, "Come here?" So Ashton climbed into Eve's bed, and held the girl when Eve snuggled into her. "Sing again?" Eve requested quietly. So, as per Eve's request, Ashton began to sing again quietly.

* * *

Dr. Robbins was preparing to go home, and was doing one last check on her patients. She walked down the last hallway, looking into her kids rooms, when she stopped.

She saw Ashton in Eve's room, sitting in the chair next to the kid. Dr. Robbins smiled, remembering when Callie had pointed the teenager out to her in the cafeteria that night. Callie had complained about how Ashton wouldn't talk to her.

The Ashton Dr. Robbins was witnessing, though, was not the way Callie had described her. Ashton had climbed into bed with Eve, and had begun singing softly to the young girl.

Dr. Robbins smiled, and continued to watch the two. When she saw Eve's eyes begin to droop, she moved on, not wanting Ashton to know her human side had been witnessed by anyone.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day after school, Ashton shadowed Callie for her rounds as usual. But halfway through them, she decided to go see Eve.

"Hey Callie?" She said quietly.

"Yeah?" Callie replied, surprised the girl was talking with no prompting.

"I'm going to go, okay?"

"Why? I mean sure, but..uh, where? Just because if you aren't with me, Mark will get mad at me, and you know..."

"Umm, I'm...I'm..going to, to...uh, sleep. Nap, take a nap," Ashton stammered out, mentally cursing herself for stuttering. Normally lying was one of her fortes, but she had only decided halfway through her sentence to Callie that she didn't want to tell the older women about her young friend in pedes.

"Okay, I'll let Mark know," Callie replied, giving her a searching look.

"Cool," Ashton said, hurrying off.

* * *

When Ashton reached Eve's room a couple minutes later, the girl still had no family with her. She gently knocked on the door and looked in, "Can I come in?"

Eve's face lit up, "Hi Ashton!"

"Hi buddy, how's your day gone?"

"Boring."

"Yeah, mine was too. Your mommy and daddy still at home?"

"Yeah, they have to take care of my brother and sister."

"I remember," Ashton said smiling, although inside she was sort of pissed at the parents for leaving their daughter alone for so long.

"Can you sing for me?" Eve requested, hopefully.

"Uhh, not right now," Ashton said, more hesitant about singing in broad daylight where anyone could hear. "How about I teach you a game?"

"Okay!"

So Ashton sat across from Eve and began to teach her the hand clapping game slide. After playing for a half an hour, Eve got tired, so Ashton climbed into bed next to her and they both fell asleep.

* * *

Ashton woke up to frantic and angry voices. As soon as her eyes were fully opened, the adults, who must have entered the room while she was asleep, began to hostilely interrogate her. "Who are you?" the man asked.

"I'm, I'm..uh," Ashton didn't know what to say. She wasn't hospital personnel, so for all she knew, she could be breaking the rules.

"They let a stranger. A freaking stranger come into this hospital and hold our little girl!" the women yelled.

"I'm not, I..uhh," Ashton stammered again. She didn't know what to say.

Right then, Dr. Robbins walked in. She had seen the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl hanging out with Eve earlier. "Mr. and Mrs. Xanders, what's the problem in here?" She asked calmly, looking from the parents to Ashton.

"The problem is that your hospital let some kid come into our daughter's room, who clearly doesn't work here because she doesn't even have a name tag, and hold our kid!" The dad yelled.

"Sir, this is a new volunteer here," Dr. Robbins lied.

"The nurse said that Eve would be happy to see us because she has had no visitors," the man said still unhappy and unconvinced.

"I'm sorry, we'll make sure Ashton signs in next time."

"Thank you," the man said curtly. "Can you leave us now, so our daughter can be with her parents?"

"Yes sir, I'm sorry about the misunderstanding," Ashton said, quickly getting out of Eve's bed.

As she walked out, Ashton heard the dad mutter to his wife, "Ashton? What kind of a name is that?"

When Ashton heard that she stopped, ready to verbally eviscerate those parents. She opened her mouth and turned around, right into Dr. Robbins, who caught her, and gently pushed her out the door, closing it behind her. Ashton was seething with anger.

"I know, I know. People do the same thing to me," Dr. Robbins said to her. Ashton opened her mouth ready to yell at Dr. Robbins, but before she could talk, the doctor spoke again, "Let's go to my office, you can yell at me there."


	4. Chapter 4

Ashton allowed herself to be shepherded to this doctors office only because she knew Mark would be annoyed if he found her yelling at one of his colleagues in the halls, and after everything Mark had done for her, she wanted to respect him.

Dr. Robbins closed the door of her office behind her, and stood at the door crossing her arms. She watched as the teenager clenched and unclenched her fists, pacing the room. The girl finally spoke, "My dad's name was Ashton, and that's what he named me, because he said my first hour out of my mom's womb, I earned his name." Ashton swallowed hard, angry at herself for almost crying, "I earned his name by being me. And my parents are dead now, so I do everything I can to continue to earn my dad's name. So when people make fun of me, I want to destroy them. I want to fucking kill them!" Ashton was yelling now, "So, no, you don't know!"

"Yeah, I do actually," Dr. Robbins replied evenly. "We haven't met yet. My name's Arizona, and every time people scoff at my name, I want to punch them in the face. I was named after the U.S.S. Arizona. My grandfather was serving on it during Pearl Harbour, and he saved 19 people before he drowned. So, yeah, I get it."

Ashton continued to pace for a couple of minutes, until finally she stopped. She mumbled an apology, "Sorry." Her voice got a little bit louder, "And sorry about Eve."

"It's okay, it frustrates me too that her parents don't have anyone to stay with her," Arizona replied sitting down.

"How do you know who I am?" Ashton asked, after a long silence.

Arizona gestured for the teen to sit, and to Arizona's surprise, the girl did. "Callie told me about you."

"You know Callie?"

"I know her very well actually, she's my girlfriend," Arizona said smiling.

"Oh, like not platonically, right?"

"Right."

"Huh, you don't seem like Callie's type. A little to peppy," Ashton said tilting her head to the side.

Arizona smiled, pleased at the genuine lack of judgement in the girl's eyes. You could never tell how people were going to react, especially teens who always seemed to be a lot more judgemental, if only because they didn't want to be falsely pegged as gay in high school. "Yeah, she didn't think I was her type either. She also mentioned that you never talk, but you seem to be speaking a normal amount to me..." Arizona trailed off, looking curiously at Ashton.

"I..yeah, I don't really talk all that much. It does normally take me a really long time before I talk to anyone as much as I'm talking to you," Ashton said, just realizing herself how much she was talking to Arizona. She began to turn red, embarrased by how much she was talking.

"So why talk to me?"

"I don't know," Ashton mumbled, suddenly very aware of her previously chatty actions.

"Aw, come on. Don't get all shy, now. We were having such a nice conversation," Arizona smiled at her.

"I'm not shy," Ashton replied adamantly.

"You don't talk to people until you've known them for years. You don't talk to Callie. You're shy," Arizona said, bluntly.

"Huh," Ashton huffed.

"So you live with Mark? You know that's across the hall from Callie and me," Arizona tried to start another conversation.

"I knew Callie lived there, but I didn't know she had a significant other."

Arizona smiled, silently pleased by that term, she was Callie's significant other. Suddenly, her stomach rumbled loudly, "Do you want to come eat with me?"

"Sure," Ashton said, standing.

Arizona mentally high-fived herself when the teen agreed. They walked to the cafeteria together, and got their food. Then they sat down at a table with Mark.

"I thought you were napping, Smash?" Mark said as a greeting.

Ashton mentally cursed herself for the second time that day, Mark was the one person who could tell when she was lying. "I..uh, well.."

Arizona could tell the teen didn't want to share her encounter with Eve and her parents with Mark, so she jumped in to save the girl. "I ran into her coming out of the on-call room, and recognized her, so I introduced myself. I asked her to eat with me to get to know her."

"Ha," Mark laughed, "you don't just get to know Smash here."

"Smash?" Arizona questioned, looking at Ashton.

"Small Ashton turned into small Ash, which turned into Smash," Ashton said in response. As Arizona nodded Mark just stared at her. "What?" Ashton asked, defensively.

"You've known her for all of ten minutes, and you're sharing your life story?" Mark said, amazed. He was well versed in his small friends shyness.

"Shutup," Ashton muttered.

Just then Callie sat down, "Hey guys!"

"Hi," Mark and Arizona replied. Ashton didn't talk again for the rest of the meal.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you for all the positive reviews. I really appreciate it! I'm trying to find a way to fit your requests into my story, and, yes, Ashton will have a love interest soon! If you have any questions or requests feel free to post it in the reviews or PM me. Again, thanks for all the positive reviews!**

**-allANN**

* * *

The next week, Ashton stuck to following Callie around, the run-in with Eve's parents still fresh in her mind. When Friday finally rolled around, Ashton decided to just walk by Eve's room, not go in, for fear of the girls parents, and see how she was doing.

Ashton politely excused herself from Callie's presence, and made her way over to the pedes wing. When she walked by Eve's room, she sighed quietly, the girl was alone, yet again, staring at a wall.

Ashton quickly turned around, and in a few steps, she was outside Dr. Robbins' office. She raised her hand to knock, and then stopped. Would the woman even care about her? Would she think she was weird for coming to see Eve again? Finally, Ashton allowed her knuckle to meet the wood of the door and knock. A couple of seconds later, the doctor's rang out, "Come in!"

Ashton opened the door and stuck her head in, "Hi.." She said hesitantly.

"Oh, hey, Ashton! Come, sit! What's up?"

"Umm..so Eve's sitting alone in her room right now, and I was wondering if I'm allowed to visit her. You know, like after what happened last time..." She trailed off.

"Yeah, go ahead. I'll let the nurses know, so they can let her parents know if they come."

"Cool," Ashton said, standing. "Thanks Dr. Robbins."

"Arizona."

"I'm sorry?" Ashton questioned.

"Call me Arizona," the woman said smiling.

"Okay, thanks Arizona," Ashton found herself smiling back.

* * *

An hour later, Arizona walked by Eve's room, and smiled when she saw the two cuddled up in Eve's bed, fast asleep. Arizona checked on them periodically, and saw them talking and playing games after they woke up.

Around midnight, Arizona walked by one last time to get Ashton. Mark had asked her to tell the teenager they were heading home soon.

When she reached Eve's room, she saw Ashton asleep, and the little girl crying. She was about to go in, when Ashton woke up, and noticed Eve's sniffles. Arizona moved out of sight, but stayed close enough to listen to the two of them.

"Hey, what's the matter?" She heard Ashton ask Eve.

"I miss my mommy and daddy."

"I miss mine too, but you know what makes me feel better?" Ashton responded.

Arizona was curious, and smiled a bit when she heard Eve answer Ashton's question, "Singing?" Eve asked. Ashton nodded in response. "Can you sing for me?" Eve asked, so quietly Arizona almost didn't hear it.

"Of course," Ashton said, and started to sing. After a couple of minutes of singing, the sniffles faded away, then the singing. When Arizona chanced a look in, she saw Eve, once again fast asleep.

Arizona knocked quietly on the slightly open door, peering in. "Can I come in?" She whispered.

Ashton nodded, "Is something wrong?" The girl started to get nervous.

"No, everything's fine," Arizona sat down in the chair across from Eve's bed. "You have a beautiful voice."

"What?" Ashton asked, surprised by this statement. She had thought she was alone.

"Your voice, it's beautiful, when you sing," Arizona repeated quietly.

"You heard me?" Ashton suddenly looked like she was going to throw-up.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. You're fine," Arizona soothed, though she wasn't entirely sure why she was soothing the girl. "Do you want to come hang out in my office for a bit?"Ashton glanced down at Eve. "She'll be fine," Arizona said in response to the glance, "once she's out, she sleeps like a rock."

"Okay," Ashton agreed, willing to do just about anything to move away from this topic of conversation. She slowly maneuvered out of Eve's bed, so as not to wake her young friend.

Together they walked into Arizona's office, and then collapsed into the comfy chairs. "So why don't you sing more often?" Arizona asked.

"I don't.., see, you..I, you weren't supposed to hear me.." Ahston trailed off.

"Aha, and why's that?" Arizona questioned further.

"Uhh...I don't know. I just don't really sing in front of people."

"You don't talk in front of a lot of people either. But if I told Callie and Mark you have an amazing voice, you would be fine singing in front of them?" Arizona wanted to see if her interpretation of the panic that had first crossed Ashton's face when she learned Arizona had been listening to her was correct.

"No! I mean, uhh..please don't."

Arizona nodded, "So you have stage fright?"

"No! No, I just..I just don't..umm..enjoy singing in front of other people," Ashton stuttered, trying to play down her fear.

"Sooo, how bad is it? Do you throw up?"

Ashton, sighed, and resigned herself to the fact that Arizona wasn't giving up. "I've thrown up once, but normally my voice just doesn't work."

Arizona nodded. "Callie has horrible stage fright too," she said suddenly.

Ashton nodded, "Cool?" She wasn't sure what her response to that statement was supposed to be.

Arizona sighed. "What I'm saying is, you talk to Mark?" Ashton nodded in response. "And you have started talking to me for some reason?" Ashton hesitated, then nodded her agreement. "So you should learn to talk to Callie, and some of the other doctors, but mostly Callie. You and her have more in common than you realize, and if we live across the hall from each other, it's going to be easier if you're comfortable with all three of us."

Ashton sat quietly for a second, opening her mouth to answer a couple times, then closing it when she realized she didn't have the right words formed. Finally, she opened her mouth and spoke, "It's not that I don't like Callie. I do, I think she's really cool actually. Ortho's pretty badass," she stopped. "Look, the not talking to people thing, it's not because I don't like them. I'm not entirely sure why I do it, but it's not because I don't like them."

Arizona nodded, "I know you don't dislike Callie. My personnel opinion, keep in mind I'm a surgeon, not a psychiatrist, is that it's a defense mechanism. It takes you a long time to trust people, so you don't talk to them until you know they aren't going to leave."

Ashton frowned defensively, "I'd say I just don't want to waste my time getting to now them if they're going to leave."

Arizona smiled understandingly, "I'm not accussing you of anything, Ashton. I just think life would be a lot easier if you let people in faster. Look, you let me in."

"Yeah, but you're weird in my book. I don't know why I talk to you."

"By talk you mean hold a conversation consisting of more than twenty words," Arizona scoffed, teasingly.

"Hey! Consider yourself fortunate!" Ashton responded, smiling.

"Oh, I do. It's just now, I'm going to go find Callie, who will probably be with Mark, which means you won't talk for the rest of the night, even if you have something to say," Arizona reasoned. "Just make an effort to let a couple of people hold a conversation with you? Especially Callie? You'll like her, I promise," Arizona added when she saw the hesitation in Ashton's eyes.

After a few moments if silence, Ashton finally relented, "Fine, I'll try. Good enough?"

"Good enough," Arizona affirmed, and together they stood, and went to go find Callie and Mark.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi Guys,**

**Sorry it's been a while since my last update. I just finished finals. As always thank you for your support, and let me know if there's anything you want me to try and add to the story! Thanks!**

**-allANN**

* * *

Arizona and Ashton found Mark and Callie in the lobby of the hospital.

"Smash! How ya doin', friend?" Mark yelled from across the lobby. When she finally reached him he swept her up in a bear hug, that she reluctantly returned.

"Hi Mark," she said, fighting a smile.

"Awww, come on! I don't even get a smile?" Mark teased. Ashton stopped trying to fight her smile, and a huge grin grew on her face. "There it is!"

Arizona kissed Callie lightly on the lips, then turned to Mark and Ashton. "Dinner?" She questioned.

Mark began to answer no, because he knew Ashton then wouldn't talk for the rest of the night, when he was interrupted by the girl, herself, "Sure, let's all go to dinner." Mark and Callie were looking at her as if she had just grown horns, but Arizona had a satisfied smile on her face.

"Okaaaaay," Mark said, clearly confused, "let's go to dinner. How does Chinese sound?" He got affirmative nods from all three ladies, "Excellent, we'll meet you two there."

* * *

When Mark and Ashton arrived at the restaurant, they saw Arizona and Callie already outside, waiting for them. The four of them walked into the restaurant together. As Callie walked over the threshold, she tripped and nearly face-planted, but was caught by Arizona. "Thanks love," Callie said, softly kissing her.

Mark walked up to the hostess, and asked for a table for four, but before the hostess could respond, a waiter began to speak to her in Chinese. "我们不要女同性恋在这儿。" (we don't want lesbians here.)

The hostess nodded, and smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry sir, we don't have any tables available."

Mark looked at the hostess, confused, "I can see a bunch of empty tables though..."

"No, those are reserved," the hostess smiled sweetly.

Ashton stepped forward quickly, "真的？我们不要吃在这儿。我的阿姨比你们好人得多！再见！我们不会再见到你！(Really?! We don't want to eat here. My aunts are much butter people than you guys. Goodbye! We won't see you again!)" Ashton fake smile at the lady, then stormed out the door. Mark, Callie and Arizona stood there, frozen.

"What just happened..." Mark asked.

"Uh..I don't know," Callie responded. "What did she say to you?"

The server looked nervously at Callie, "Well, my waiter made a rude comment, and she said, uh..something along the lines of, 'we won't eat here ever again' and 'my aunts are much better people than you'."

"Huh..okay, well, yeah, what she said. Let's go ladies," Mark said, clearly proud of his niece, though still a bit confused. The three of them walked out the door, and saw Ashton pacing by their car, half-a-block away.

* * *

When Mark reached her, he stood in frog of her and waited for her to stop pacing. The girl finally stopped, took a deep breath, and started to speak, "Look Mark, I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have gotten mad, I should've kept a handle on my temper." She kept talking, but it seemed she was scolding herself, instead of talking to Mark anymore, "Stupid, stupid, I shouldn't have lost my temper. I should've walked away, damn it. Dumb, shit, shit, shit, why couldn't I just-"

Ashton was cut off by Arizona's hand on her shoulder. The girl immediately looked at her shoes, not wanting to see the reaction of someone who she had come to trust in the shortest amount of time ever for her. "Ashton, Ash, look at me," Arizona coaxed, putting her cool hand underneath Ashton's chin, and forcing the girl to make eye contact. "We're not mad at you. We still not really sure what happened, but we're not mad, okay?" Arizona waited until Ashton nodded to continue. "Okay, let's sit down, and why don't you tell us what happened," Arizona guided the girl to a short wall nearby, where they both sat down, and were joined by Callie and Mark.

All three looked expectantly at her, "Uh, so..they said some not very nice stuff, and so I said some not very nice stuff back..." Ashton trailed off, hoping to avoid telling the adults what had been said.

"What did they say, Smash?" Mark prodded.

"They, uh..were rude," she stopped again.

"Ashton, I know we haven't hit it off like you and Arizona, but just listen to me right now, 'kay?" Callie kept talking when she received an affirmative nod from Ashton. "We just want to know what they said, no one here thinks that you agree with them or are backing them up because you tell us what happened."

"They said they don't want lesbians eating there," Ashton said quietly. "So I, uhh, I said some stuff that in Chinese culture is very insulting."

She was surprised when Callie, who was on her left, hugged her, "Thank you for standing up for us, and thank you for telling us what happened."

After a couple minutes of quiet, Mark suddenly stood up, "Who's up for pizza?"

"Solid idea, should we just call and have it delivered to our apartment?" Arizona asked.

"Your apartment," Mark agreed, getting in the car. He stage whispered to Ashton, "If we have dinner at their place, we don't have to was dishes."

"News flash," Ashton stage whispered back, "Callie is still going to make you do dishes."

"Whatever," Mark huffed, turning the car on. And driving back to their shared apartment complex.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys,**

**I'm still working on putting the other doctors into the story. I don't want to rush the storyline, and I'm working on Ashton's romantic life as well. As always any requests, and you can comment it or PM me. **

**Thanks for your support!**

**-allANN**

* * *

When they got back to Arizona and Callie's apartment which was right across the hall from Mark and Ashton's apartment, Mark called the only pizza place that delivered after midnight. "You know I'm only letting you stay up 'cause it's not a school night, right Smash?" He wanted to make sure this did not become a regular occurrence.

"I know," Ashton said offhandedly, wandering around Arizona and Callie's apartment.

Arizona and Callie walked out of their bedroom, both in pajamas, and plopped down on their coach. "So Ashton, tell us about you," Callie requested.

"Not much to tell, tell me about you guys. Why do you live across the hall from Mark?" Ashton responded with a question, attempting to deflect the question asked about her.

"Nice try, that was a pretty valiant effort, but deflection's not gonna work with us," Callie said, tilting her head, curious about Ashton's background. Ashton didn't respond, instead flicking around the Rubicks cube she had found on the table. Callie was about to console Ashton about not being able to solve it, when with one last flick of her picky finger, she set the solved Rubicks cube back on the table. "Whoa. That was impressive. Like really, wow. Just wow. Why don't you start by telling us where you learned that?" Callie tried again.

"A friend taught me," Ashton responded.

"It's her method of avoiding your questions," Mark called from the kitchen. "She answers as vaguely as possible to discourage you." Mark ignored the glare Ashton was giving him and continued, "You know, she was in one of the best children's choruses in the world before she aged out of it." Mark was talking like a proud father, and was about to continue when the door bell rang. Ashton immediately hopped up to answer it, effectively running away from the conversation that was about to be started.

"Saved by the bell," Arizona muttered. When Ashton came back in with the pizza, she turned toward the kitchen when Arizona's voice stopped her, "Just bring it in here, I'm too tired to move." Ashton walked into their living area, putting the box down on the coffee table. Mark joined them, placing the bowl of salad he had made in the kitchen on the table, and distributing plates and utensils to everyone.

"So you sing?" Callie asked.

"Yeah, she does, about as much as you public speak, Cal," Mark responded cheekily.

Mark was promptly flipped off by Callie. "So you have stage fright?" Callie continued prodding.

"No, I don't have stage-," she was stopped by the look she was getting from Arizona. "Fine," she relented, "I have fucking stage fright, happy?"

"Language," all three adults said at the same time. Ashton rolled her eyes in response.

"Is it as bad as mine?" Callie asked to the room.

"I've only thrown up once," Ashton said.

"Yeah, cause you've only sung for a room full of people once," Mark guffawed. Ashton just glared at him.

"The Rubicks cube then?" Arizona moved the conversation to other topics.

"Choir tour, it's tradition, the older ones teach the younger ones," Ashton said, being bauge once again.

"Huh, what else do you do?" Callie asked.

"Can we talk about one of you now?" Ashton pleaded.

"No, talking about us is boring for us, cause we've already know most of what there is to know about us. So you, my dear, are our entertainment for the night. Well, probably for the next couple weeks since we have to pry everything out of you," Arizona explained to the girl.

"Since when do you speak Chinese, Smash?" Mark asked.

"Since I learned at school."

"So you speak fluent Chinese?" Mark tried again.

"Pretty much."

"You know, we could use that at the hospital, if you're ever bored or need volunteer hours or something. We're always looking for translators," Callie thought aloud.

"Cool," Ashton said, unenthusiastically, though her body posture, which had perked up at the statemnt, betrayed her actual interest in that idea.

"How old are you?" Callie questioned.

"Why?" Ashton responded quickly and defensively.

"Only because you have to be sixteen to work or volunteer at the hospital."

"I turn sixteen in a couple of months." Just then Ashton's phone dinged, alerting her to a text message.

"Who's texting you at," Arizona looked at her watch, "1:23 in the morning?"

"Your boyfriend?" Callie teased, smiling gently at the girl, and trying to catch eye contact with her.

At those words, Ashton stood, stretching, "And that's my que to leave."

"Aw, come on, Smash, she's just teasing!" Mark called after her, curious about the answer.

Ashton picked up her dishes, and loaded them into the dishwasher. She then walked toward the door, completely ignoring Mark. Smiling, she called back, "Goodnight, thanks for dinner Arizona and Callie."

"Hey! I payed too!" Mark yelled at the closing door.

* * *

"She's like an onion," Arizona said into the silence that had settled over them once Ashton left. "You peel back one layer, and there are a billion more layers to peel back."

"Yup, I've barely gotten through half of them in three years," Mark said, while washing the salad bowl.

"I have a feeling that with her basically living at the hospital, and Arizona and your encouragement to open up, she will. We work with good people, who will really care about her. I mean, she talked to me tonight. That's more than she's said to me in the entire time I've known her. She defended Arizona and my relationship to a stranger, and the hostess said she called us her aunts. I think she'll start opening up faster than she ever has. She'll still be shy, but at least she'll be shy with people who are coaxing her out of her shell all around her," Callie concluded.

Mark nodded, "Well, I've got to go to bed. I have work in the morning. Me and Smash will probably see you two tomorrow."

"Yup," Arizona agreed.

"Goodnight," Callie called as Mark left.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi everyone,**

**This chapter is simply a necessary one, not a super interesting one. I wanted to explain Ashton's place in the hospital, so I could start using all of the characters, instead of having to explain how her relationship came to be with all of them. Also, I am using only the characters I think I'll be able to manage, because if I use all of the ones mentioned in the show, I think things will start to get confusing. Let me know if there's any characters I left out you'd like me to add, or any suggestions for the story. PM me or review! Thanks!**

**-allANN**

* * *

The next day was Sunday, and Mark was working all day. The two of them left for the hospital early that morning. "So Smash, what are your plans for this fine day?" Mark asked as they walked across the street to the hospital.

"Don't know," the girl responded. "What're yours?"

"Save a couple lives, fix a few faces, enlarge a couple butts, you know the norm..." Mark trailed off.

Ashton allowed a small smile to grace her elegant features. "You know, you should smile more often. You have a great smile," Teddy said, matching strides with Ashton and Mark as they entered the hospital.

Ashton blushed, and mumbled her thanks. The three of them got on the elevator, and waited for the doors to close. But right before the doors closed Arizona squeezed on, causing the doors to open once again before they closed finally. "Morning everyone!" She said, peppily. Everyone murmured their own unenthusiastic responses. "What's got our Ashton blushing?" She asked curiously, tilting her head to try and make eye contact with the girl.

"I complimented her smile," Teddy responded. The elevator doors opened and they made their way to the locker room. "Apparently she doesn't take compliments well," the head of cardio continued, as if Ashton wasn't there.

"Yeah, I'm right here, hi," Ashton said, raising her hand.

"Oh! Hi! Sorry Smash, didn't see you there," Mark feigned surprise. "But you're right Teddy, she doesn't. Anyway, my small friend and I need to fetch our morning coffee."

"Coffee stunts growth," Arizona immediately responded.

"Good thing I'm done growing then," Ashton snapped back.

"Whoa, calm down. It's actually more likely that you aren't done growing. You probably have one to two more inches," Arizona tried again.

"Yeah, well I can give up those two inches for my daily fix of caffeine," Ashton grumbled, almost bumping into Christina as she walked out of the locker room, following Mark.

* * *

"Who was that? I think I like her bitterness," Yang said.

"Mark's niece, you guys haven't met?" Teddy responded.

"Nope, seen her around, but I didn't know who she was. Does she live with him?"

"Her parents died recently, and Mark was the indicated caretaker," Arizona explained.

"Huh, that sucks for the kid. Her parents die, and now she has to live with McSteamy...McYikes..." Christina trailed off.

* * *

"Maybe we should cut back on our caffeine," Mark said to Ashton as they waited for their coffee outside the coffee stand.

"Nope, definitely not," Ashton responded immediately.

"Yeah, you're right. We shouldn't, stupid idea," Mark agreed with her.

Just then Christina walked up to them, she sized up Ashton then spoke, "I'm Christina." Then she went to order her coffee.

"Ashton," the girl responded when Yang joined them to wait for her morning fuel.

"You're like twelve, shouldn't you be spending time with your friends instead of always being at the hospital?" Yang asked.

"I'm fifteen. If you were me, would you want to spend time at a "friend's" house over the hospital?" Ashton said, putting finger quotations around the word friend.

Christina considered the girl's statement for a second then responded, "good point. I have a quadruple bypass scheduled for 3:00 this afternoon," Yang said, grabbing her coffee then walking away.

Ashton and Mark picked up their coffees, "that means she likes you," Mark said.

"I think I like her too," Ashton responded slowly.

Then the two of them went their seperate ways, Mark to plastics, and Ashton to peds.

* * *

Over the next couple weeks, Ashton slowly began to find her place in the hospital. She ran tests and results back and froth from the labs for the surgeons, and had started talking to most of them. Callie had been right, when she was in constant contact with the people who loved and cared about her, she opened up just a little bit easier.

She had become closest to Arizona, her mother figure, and of course, Mark, her protective "older brother", but was developing relationships with all of the surgeons.

Alex had become her "big brother" of sorts, constantly teasing and baiting her into annoyance and thus, arguments.

Teddy and Callie also became closer to her, since the two were Arizona's best friend and girlfriend, respectively.

Derek, Bailey, and Lexie had begun to see her as their student, and patiently over explained everything when she was around, because they knew, even though she didn't ask, that she wanted to know why and how and when.

Hunt was her outlet when she needed something to do; he always had a job for her.

And Meredith and Christina took great delight in teaching her sutures and other surgeon necessities, claiming that she was going to be their super-surgeon.

The Chief had come to expect her to be around, and worried when she wasn't.

In short, faster than Ashton could have thought possible, the hospital had become her family. They could never replace her lost family, but they joined her as a new family, silently supporting her and unconditionally loving her.


End file.
